I think we often lie to ourselves about our true motivations for doing plenty of things. Case in point: homophobe

Ask a homophobe why they disown their kids, vote against the interests of LGBT folks and harm them politically, socially, and financially, and they will all point at the nearest religious text.

BUT. Ask any EX homophobe, and they all point at themselves and their community. "I believed these lies, I didn't want to be singled out, everyone around me believed this so I did too." Religion is an after-the-fact justification for homophobia almost always. People's religion is always a reflection of their own views and morality. What is perfectly good as ordained by god tends to magically change based on their personal experiences. This is why arguments against homophobia based around religion never work. Religion only enters to aid them in the mental gymnastics needed to not feel like human trash when you're hurting your fellow man for no good reason.

And I think that's true for a lot of religion based bigotries and hypocrisies.